Family Coaster

A different kind of orbiter on the Clarence Pier

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Clarence Pier

Right next to the hovercraft terminal for the crossing to the Isle of Wight in Southsea, Portsmouth is the Clarence Pier. In contrast to the piers that rise hundreds of meters into the sea, the local pier is positioned flat on the shore.

Waltzer and Twister

The attractions of the pier cover a large part of the classic English rides, so you will find a Twister and a Waltzer next to the classic English horse carousel. Where the Waltzer is unfortunately hardly worth mentioning, the Twister is quite convincing. It’s quite funny to experience at first hand what kind of movements a single motor can produce and how fast these movements can be. Alone the fact how the additional movement of the gondolas were solved deserves some attention, but unfortunately, the motion sequence is hardly variable.

Skyways

Since 1980, Clarence Pier has offered a roller coaster from S.D.C. called Skyways. This roller coaster of the type Galaxy distinguishes itself especially by its seemingly endless helices and the very narrow support structure. The bizarreities of the layout resulting from the compactness of the ride, like the transition from the 900° helix to the camelback or the end of the ride become quite funny. Like on the roller coaster Moncayo from the Parque de Atracciones de Zaragoza, the cars are pushed by the staff in the station area. Due to the second car, the drops are only more abrupt in the second car, whereby the airtime in the front gets lost.

Speedy Coaster

The second roller coaster is a children’s roller coaster from D.P.V. Rides and therefore a real Pinfari roller coaster. Unfortunately the ride on the trains, known from various Wacky Worm, is rather boring, especially since the layout of the Speedy Coaster consists of only two simple ovals and the second descent is equipped with a reduction brake. Here, the comparable layout from the Funland Amusement Park with its additional helix is much better, nevertheless the kids loved the ride.

Mega Dance

In addition to a modern high ropes course and a rotor, which is not open to the public to watch the riders, the park also has a very special ride. The Mega Dance, aka Extreme Dance, aka Storm Dancer is a Fabbri Orbiter/Hard Rock. The ride is basically similar to the one of a Tivoli Orbiter, but has some peculiarities. The platform of the ride is not straight, in addition the whole setup is lifted and tilted, so that the basic motion sequence is much more than 90°. In addition, a constant rotation of the passenger carrier through the shoulder restraints is not necessary and thus quite strange hangtime is generated. Furthermore, direction changes are possible, the fast rotations however are only noticeable at floor level, because the lateral forces are perceptible.

Pictures Clarence Pier

 

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Clarence Pier

Upside down on Hayling Island

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Funland Amusement Park

The Funland Amusement Park is located on the beach of Hayling Island and offers a small but fine selection of rides, as well as the typical range of amusement arcades and snack bars. Admission to the park is free, the attractions are paid for according to the Tivoli principle by a certain number of tokens or by a wristband. Especially the second option is ideal during the evening hours, as the wristbands are offered virtually for free. However, people with a weaker stomach, who only visit the park for the three roller coasters, should use the tokens.

Super Dragon

Next to a typical English Helter Skelter slide, which unfortunately does not have a Rct look in this park, you can find a Pinfari roller coaster in the children’s area of the small park. The Super Dragon can be best compared to a Big Apple roller coaster, as both installations share approximately the same height and surface area. But the ride is much more exciting, even if not very spectacular. After climbing the lifthill there is a curve which leads into the first of two drops. After passing under the lifthill, the ride goes up again and after another curve, it enters into the rapid finale of the course. Here, after the drop, a small hill follows, which brings a smile to your face. But some rounds later, one is glad to get out of the former ride of the Drayton Manor Theme Park.

Klondike Gold Mine

At the other end of the park is another ride from Drayton Bassett, the Klondike Gold Mine or Klondike Looping Rollercoaster. The beautifully designed ZL42 from Pinfari has often been described as a physical injury, just like other rides of the same type. Except for the daredevil transitions into the curves, the layout runs very well. The compactness of the layout makes the ascents and descents quite steep, which could have been improved by adding a few more metres to the width of the layout, thus giving a softer ride. The looping is unfortunately not as intensive as comparable Intamin installations do, but it was a nice element during the ride. In general, the Klondike Gold Mine is a real gem, at least when it comes to the overall design of the layout. The ride itself is quite nice and not at all to be rated as most roller coaster fans do.

Woody Rollercoaster

Next to the gold mine roller coaster you can find another children’s roller coaster at Funland Amusement Park. The Woody Rollercoaster actually doesn’t offer any special features apart from its tree-trunk shaped cars, especially since the layout only consists of right turns and can have a helix as the only downhill run. As with the Super Dragon, several laps are made here.

Speed Flip

On the other hand, the Speed Flip is a real highlight in the park, because the rides built by Moser Rides are unfortunately very rare. The ride in the roll-over gondolas, which are mounted on a cantilever that is brought from the horizontal to the vertical, is simply indescribably good and above all very fast. The ride looks quite bizarre from the outside and some of the gondolas only seem to roll over, but inside the machine the ride is well balanced, even if it is quite intense.

Drop Ride

A little inconspicuous is the 30 meter high freefall tower called Drop Ride. The installation once came from the Trocadero Center in London and was equipped there with a two-storied gondola. As the fall lane was anchored to the building at that time, a new tower structure had to be built in the Funland Amusement Park that was simply made as a timbered construction. The fall in this small ride is simply overwhelming, even the slightly higher Fabbri drop towers with their launch downwards do not come close to the distinctive airtime. In addition, the ride offers probably the most intensive braking of all free fall towers, which is probably due to the fact that the weight of the second gondola is missing. The Drop Ride is like Drayton Manors Apocalypse or La Lanzandera from the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid one of the best freefall towers in Europe and shows again that height is a rather negligible factor.

Furthermore, you can get a little soaked with a small log flume and get dry again in the Break Dance, a Magic Dance from Top Fun, if necessary. Outside of the actual park area there is also the Seaside Train, which probably offers some stations along the beach.

Pictures Funland Amusement Park

 

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Funland Amusement Park

A visit to Germany’s most remote park

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Rügen Park

Miniature Village and Heege Rides

At the edge of the village of Gingst on the island of Rügen is the Rügen Park, a miniature park of decent size, which has grown into a small leisure park through its expansion. Typical for a small park in Germany you can find half of the Heege product range here, which is not bad for classics like the Butterfly, Luna Loop or the Nautic Jets.

The showpiece area and at the same time the root of the park offers miniatures from all over the world, but also regional buildings in small format. The level of detail is quite high, but the small gimmicks on the edge are missing, which is for example the Miniatur Wunderland in the Hamburg Speicherstadt.

The park railway and Familienachterbahn

The main attraction of the park is the Chance Park Railway, with the classic C.P. Huntington train. But there is also a second train in this park. This one has a funny grimace and belongs to the Zamperla children’s roller coaster, which luckily doesn’t try to kill you right away, like the Vagones Locos from the Parque de Atracciones de Madrid do. The ride with wide open safety bars was quite adventurous, but for the children, where the safety bars were mostly closed, the ride was a lot of fun.

Pictures Rügen Park

Conclusion Rügen Park

The Rügen Park is, if you are ever on Rügen, worth a visit. It is best to visit this park in the high season of the island, because then you can be sure to do everything without annoying conversations. Both the park railway and the roller coaster don’t really run very often, so it is advisable to wait a few minutes in front of the ride rather than postpone your visit to the back of the park and thus not enjoy the ride.

 

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Rügen Park